Secrets of Pet Food Ingredients
Every pet food manufacturer claims that their food is safety and healthy but this is not always true. Pet food ingredients will decide quality of that food. So a label reading of pet food is an important task for the pet owner. But before that we should know types of ingredient and how to decide which is healthy for dogs. Let take a look on some secrets of pet food ingredients.
Animal proteins:
As a carnivorous animal the best source of protein for pets is animal protein. There are varieties of sources such as cattle, swine, chickens, lambs, pork, beef etc. Pet food is considered healthy and notorious when it contains raw meat only. If pet food is labeled as by the product then it means it is prepared from other body parts of animals which is not consumed by human beings. E.g. heads, feet, bones, blood, intestines, lungs, spleens, livers.
By products are considered as unhealthy and they lack some nutrients also so try to avoid those. Always choose a product labeled as chicken, meat, pork etc. The food labeled as super-premium, natural, and organic is considered as healthiest pet food because they do not contain any by product, rich in nutrients, rich in calories and risk free.
Vegetable proteins:
This is a recent change in pet dry food contains high carbohydrate, cereal grain or starchy vegetables. These are cheap sources of energy and nutrients but not recommended for pets because they lead to nutritional deficiencies. So avoid vegetable protein sources and prefer animal sources only.
Preservatives:
Many chemicals are used to improve taste, stability, characteristics, or appearance of the food. These are considered as unhealthy because some of them like BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin can cause cancer also. To avoid this danger natural preservatives are used. Some of them are alcohol, honey, salt, sugar, antioxidants etc.
Added nutrients:
Added nutrients like omega-3 fatty acid, antioxidant, calcium, vitamin complex, probiotics etc. can be added for specific purpose. Each one has specific health benefit for pets. If your pet really needs those then you can buy those otherwise no need to have added nutrients in your pet food.
Bottom line:
It is always recommended to buy pet food labeled as natural, organic, whole food, complete food because these are standards set by Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). All the ingredients are grown in natural sources, no preservatives added and completely safe.
